“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

Just quickly popping on to report that the garage bill has arrived and I can finally breathe again now the weight of anticipation has been lifted!  Bill is for £228.05 - not far off DH’s estimate of £200.  Looking at where we stand for the month (after accounting for some unexpected expenses and a direct debit I forgot to factor into the original calculations), we have around £134 that we can put towards this bill.  That means plucking another £94 out of the ether...

Reassuringly, we have the security of knowing we can cover this extra amount with what we’ve saved in the emergency fund, rather than using credit cards or overdrafts (and then replacing it next month).  However, I don’t want to get complacent and am still going to see if we can make the money from selling items, which has the added bonus of decluttering and keeping DH busy and out of trouble! 

Right, off to see what treasures I can find!

browneyed_girl

Ok, so I’ve listed a number of items that we have that could potentially be sold to make up for this month’s deficit.  Some I would only ask a few pounds for, but every little bit helps and if an item is not being used, surely it’s better to sell it for a nominal sum rather than having it sat in a cupboard doing nothing?! 

I’ve managed to come up with the following list and will discuss with DH this evening to see what he can bear to part with...

1. Stovetop espresso maker - new in box and has been sat in a cupboard for about 3 years.  Looks like they are about £15 new.  DH used to have a major coffee obsession and spent a small fortune on equipment and coffee subscriptions - now he’s given up drinking the stuff!  I don’t drink coffee, so it is of absolutely no use to us!

2. Fancy coffee maker (lightly used) - see notes under espresso maker.

3. Very pretty china cake stand (two-tiered) - new in box.  This was one of my silly spends. I think I envisioned having homemade cakes everyday and sitting down with the children for afternoon tea with said cake stand taking centre stage.  Then I remembered that I rarely get the time to bake and that we aren’t the von Trapp family, so in its box it stayed.  I do feel like a plonker for that one - I think it was around £25 and remember seeing much fancier cake stands for at least four times that amount!!  

4. Car bumper for car we no longer own.  Bought by DH but we decided to sell the car before he could fit it.  Because it was a fairly old and desirable car (for petrolheads at least), I remember he struggled to find the bumper he wanted (it was for looks, not functionality).  He then persuaded me that £100 and a 200 mile round drive was an absolute bargain.  To this day, I’m not so sure, especially since the blooming thing never got fitted!

5. Another car part for old car, but can’t for the life of me remember what DH called it in order to type it!  All I remember was him saying the words “about £35”, which was the only bit I was really interested in!

6. Three pairs of boys’ shoes that DS grew out of before he could wear them!  I’m not sure they would have fit him even at birth - he’s always been a bit of a chunker!

There are also boxes and boxes of toys that we were going to donate to DD3’s pre-school, but I might look through them this evening to see if there is anything worth selling before the pre-school gets them.  Either way, I’ll be glad to get rid of them - I swear guests come into my house and assume they’ve accidentally walked into the local toy museum!

Off to busy myself with prepping dinner - korma for the kids and a Thai noodle soup of my own invention for the grown-ups as we’re firmly back on the diet wagon!  No more sneaky choccie biccies - boohoo!

beanielou

Happy listing!

browneyed_girl

How is it the weekend again?!  I think I must have stumbled half-asleep through the week - maybe the lack of sugar in the diet is starving my brain of its usual fuel?!   

I’m still waiting for DH to decide what items he’s happy for us to list but will hopefully get it all sorted this evening.  I’ve got a number of odd jobs around the house that I’ve been putting off (I’m sure even typing this now is another attempt at procrastination), plus a mending pile that is growing again.  I’ve also decided that I need to step up the decluttering attempts, as though I am getting rid of boxes of stuff, the house doesn’t seem any less cluttered!  I’m starting in the kitchen and my first thought is to keep a single folder of recipes copied from the many books I have, then sell/donate the books.  I actually can’t remember the last time I used them - don’t most people get their recipes online these days??  I need to first find a suitable folder and clear plastic poly pockets - I know I have a supply somewhere...

HM pizza for dinner as part of film night for the kids - DH is busy making the dough.  I’ve done my bit today by baking another banana loaf (I’m sure the kids pretend not to like bananas so that they get cake instead), this time with added sultanas and dried apricots that have been sat in the cupboard for a while (another attempt to trick DD3 into eating fruit).  Hopefully this loaf will last longer than one day, but I can’t guarantee it! 

browneyed_girl

I’m going to come back later today, but just really needed a rant (I’ll keep it brief!)...

Why on earth would anyone think panic buying is a reasonable response to the media’s obsession with Coronavirus?!  Poor DH has been to do the weekly shop today with a set list carefully put together from our meal plan.  Imagine his horror when he finds a completely empty shelf where the pasta should be and he has to go off list and improvise alternative meals!! It sounds really silly and wouldn’t be of any concern if it were just DH and I, but DD3 in particular is a very fussy eater and we can struggle to get food into her on some days (this is due to behavioural problems related to her underlying diagnosis).  At these times, the one thing she will always eat is pasta - without it we are going to be a bit stuck.  And it’s not as though I can make it myself without rushing off to buy a pasta maker and finding extra time in the day that I don’t have to actually make the stuff!  It does make me angry with the media and the public who really just need to employ a bit more common sense.  It’s as though everyone has decided that the emergence of Coronavirus is an omen signalling the end of days!  And it’s messing up my budget!!! 

browneyed_girl

I promised I’d be back and I’m going to try to sound more positive, because we have managed to have a lovely weekend and a productive few days.  DH settled down with a cup of tea after his supermarket trauma, but has vowed not to go to the shops again this week even if it means beans on toast and tinned fruit all round!  He did manage to stay in budget, so we have £23.21 left for food/fuel this week with full cupboards and an almost full tank in DH’s car.  Hopefully we’ll have something left at the end of the week to put towards the garage bill...

Had a couple of nice little wins yesterday.  Visited my mother and stayed for tea as she had bought in food specially for the kids.  We had a lovely catch-up and got sent home with a bag of things she’d decided to save for us, plus a dozen leftover cupcakes (dessert sorted for kiddies for the next few days! ).  Included in the bag were two boxes of champagne truffles leftover from Xmas, two really pretty glass bottles that she had kept from Xmas (previously contained gin - said gin now contained within mother) and some LED string lights that come attached to pretend corks (to use in the glass bottles).  I’ve spent part of the morning washing out and removing the labels from the bottles, and they really look gorgeous with the lights inside.  They are now strategically placed in the living room and I’m excited to have them lit up this evening .

DH has busied himself this morning with taking apart and cleaning every filter/pipe/brush that makes up the vacuum cleaner as it has been distinctly less effective in recent weeks.  Turns out that it was just what it needed and it’s now working like new!  I hate to admit it, but this is the sort of thing we never used to do.  Rather than attempt to fix any issues with appliances, we’d assume they were beyond repair and have a new one ordered within the hour!  This year alone, DH has saved the vacuum cleaner, fixed a problem with the washer/dryer, repaired a set of speakers, serviced my car and solved a plumbing emergency - what a useful man to have around!

savingholmes

Sounds like your OH is coming up trumps on the maintenance front. Well done for the ebaying and trying to keep the EF intact.

beanielou

I think peoples panic buying is just silly.
Your DH sounds like a fab man to have around.

browneyed_girl

Morning everyone!

I’m so glad to have a day off today.  The last few days at work have been very long and have sapped all of my energy.  Hopefully nothing that a three day weekend won’t solve!

Good and bad news on the money front.  Thinking positively, I’ve managed to add a little bit extra to the emergency fund - £8.22 rewards from main account, £1.17 monthly interest from savings and another £5 today from surveys.  We’ve also made a few little sales - £15 for two items so far.  DH also has a friend interested in another item which will be £42 if DH closes the deal today!

Now for the not so good...Council tax bill arrived for the year and it has gone up by £6 a month (we pay over 12 months).  Our breakdown cover also needs renewing next month and a letter from our current provider has quoted £271 . Given that last year I paid £175 and got £70 cashback, this seems ridiculous!  I’ll be back to TCB to see what better deals I can get.  DH decided to book his car in for a service on payday and, given that our holiday is also in April, next month is looking to be just as tight as March.  Oh well, scrimping is the new sexy!

browneyed_girl

Such little things can make me incredibly happy.  Popped onto TCB to look at breakdown cover deals, only to find £15 payable sitting in my account!  Now that’s the kind of surprise that I don’t mind - I could do with more like that please if the universe is listening!  

Having first looked at a comparison site, I have found joint breakdown cover quotes from £68 - so much for £271!  We’ll probably end up going for a slightly more expensive quote at around £88 because it’s from a better known company and the excess is £0.  They do have a deal on TCB for £10 cashback though, so overall it seems like the better deal.  Making a note in my diary to factor this into next month’s budget and an alert on my calendar nearer the time reminding me to call our current provider to prevent auto-renewal.  I’m clearly feeling super-organised today!